Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood has become the first cancer centre in the country to treat patients with an injectable form of immunotherapy.
Approved for use in the UK earlier this year, the new injection means patients will spend less time in hospital. Their fortnightly or monthly treatment will take just five minutes, instead of up to an hour via an intravenous drip.
Dr Heather Shaw, consultant medical oncologist and the centre’s deputy clinical director, said: “Changing how this immunotherapy drug is given will make a big difference for patients – they won’t need cannulas and will spend less time in the hospital, making their experience much better.”
The new nivolumab injection can be used to treat 15 types of cancer, including skin, bladder, and oesophagus, and it is estimated that it could benefit around 1,200 patients in England per month.
Around two in five patients who currently receive the IV drip form of nivolumab – one of the most widely used cancer treatments – should be eligible for the new injection.
Photo credit: East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust
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